Middle Level/High School Subject Area Specialization:

SOCIAL STUDIES

Lewis & Clark has a reputation for preparing excellent teachers of the liberal arts. The Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) with Initial Teaching License continues this tradition by offering candidates the opportunity to teach at the middle level or high school grades. Our program prepares new teachers to think analytically about their subject matter and the school curriculum, their practice of the teaching craft, and their role in the ethical and organizational dilemmas of schooling.

The Preservice M.A.T. in Social Studies degree complements similar programs in other subject areas and early childhood/elementary education. These programs all stress a strong disciplinary background and commitment to critical appraisal of curriculum in the candidate’s field.

The program prepares students to:

• Be effective citizens by engaging them in the examination of pressing community, state and national issues.

• Understand the ways in which students’ individual identities and cultural backgrounds influence their learning in social studies, and to adapt their teaching accordingly.

• Design curriculum around deep and powerful concepts and questions.

• Use writing in social studies classes to extend students’ learning.

• Be knowledgeable about theory and research behind approaches to teaching social studies.

• Teach about the broad diversity of people and perspectives in U.S. society and the world.

• Approach their teaching from a liberal arts perspective.

• Use as well as critique current state standards for social studies.

• Use engaging and innovative teaching techniques to promote student understanding of the social studies.

Program features:

• Nine month internship in a middle or high school in the Portland metropolitan area working with an experienced social studies/history mentor teacher.

• Campus studies in education, history and the social sciences, and curriculum theory and construction.

• Examination of the assumptions which under gird the social science disciplines.

• Coursework which integrates the new scholarship in social history and the history of minorities and women, and explores the impact of race, gender, class, and culture on curriculum.

• Understanding of the intellectual and empirical research traditions applied to education and teaching.

• Fulfillment of the requirements for an Oregon Initial Teaching License at the middle level and high school grades.

Admission expectations:

Recent college graduates and adults in career transition who hold a baccalaureate degree with a major in U.S. or world history or one of the social sciences such as political science, sociology, or geography are welcomed to apply.

Candidates with a minor or coursework in history or the social sciences may be considered. Please contact the Teacher Education department to discuss subject area preparation.

Contact information

For further information about licensing, degree program, and course offerings in social studies, pleases contact :

Paul Copley, faculty

Teacher Education

pcopley@lclark.edu

(503) 768-6135